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Each year we hold a competition where members of the AnimeSuki community can vote for the best anime of the year in various categories. There have been some minor changes to the awards since last year so please read the rules and voting procedures.

Format

Since their inception the awards have been organized in a two-stage format:

A nomination phase, where you can nominate up to three shows for each category. The top 4 (four), or more in case of ties, will move on to the next phase, the voting phase. Your first pick in a category will count as 2 (two) points, the others will count only as 1 (one) point. After nominations are over we'll move into...

A voting phase, where everyone will vote for 1 (one) out of all the nominees that went through. The show with the most votes wins that category.

Eligible

TV series and specials that have ended airing in 2012

OVAs that have been released in 2012

Movies who's DVD/BD was released in 2012

Prequels, spin-offs or other related series that are not a chronological continuation of the same story

Not Eligibile

Movies that are part of an ongoing series, who's DVD/BD of the last episode has not been released

DVD/BD extras, bundles and specials

TV series who have a continuation announced for next year and will start airing within 1 season (cour) of the last series' finishing date

New Rules UPDATED

In the nomination phase you may only vote a series in at most 2 (two) genre categories. Your vote for the same series in the 3rd genre category will be deemed invalid. This is restricted rule for the genre categories (B0 to B9) only; votes in other categories are not counted towards this limit. Choose wisely.

The rule is meant to balance out mathematical voting power issues related to the contest's formula. Mainly "sweeping votes", where a series is voted for 2pts in every possible way, and distribution of 1pt votes is either nonexistent or somewhat random. Lack of distribution causes an advantage over more balanced and thought out votes. There is no intention to discourage single-votes but we wish for all votes to be quality votes, and all voters to have equal influence power.

Can a series still make it in all categories? Yes.

Ongoing shows are now eligible but only for the new –{D8}- Category. The Complete List of Eligible Shows and Category Descriptions have been updated

Then write after each category your favourites separating each by a comma (or in a list).

When you want to abstain from a category you delete the line, or leave it blank.

When you vote in a character category you write: Character Name / Series Name.

When you vote in a song categories you write: Series Name OP1 or Series Name ED3 (where 1 and 3 are just an example).

As long as you don't mess up the category name, which includes the verification tags (i.e. A1, A2, etc) the vote will be counted just fine;

Even if you do make mistakes we'll do our best to invalidate as little as possible.

Got it? That's all there is to it, have fun!

But I'm bad at writing!

Don't worry, most people make some kind of typo or mistake. We know, we've seen plenty; including our own.

What you should know,

Errors are checked by humans! The tally is automated, but any errors or "potentially confusing" entries are resolved by us (the organizers). So, with the exception of obscure references, nothing that you would write in an average post would ever count as an error.

We periodically post an error report with whatever made it past our eyes and research. The report contains detailed information on where, and why. And don't fret if you're on it, (if possible) other categories and valid series in the problem category will all be counted just fine.

Though if you got an error on your first 2pt entry, the 2nd and 3rd in that category will still be worth 1pt (because they're still your 2nd and 3rd choice).

What does the error report usually consist of? Well from last year, typically...

clear rule violation, such as voting for Movies in a TV category

very obscure series aliases, more often character names

overly malformed posts; typically incorrectly formatted song categories, or character categories without the series name. On occasion failure to copy/paste the categories tags altogether

and sometimes (rarely) ineligible series get nominated

That's about all of them. See, you don't have to worry about your typing being a problem.

Confused about the categories?

The contest is open to your interpretation. We've narrowed down the meaning to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings, so as long as the title "Best of [insert-category]" fits the series in question then it's fine by us. Don't worry about it and have fun.

If you're not satisfied and need a technical clear cut answer, we've got that too,

Spoiler for Category Descriptions:

A. Quality

-{A1}- [Best Storyline & Plot]

Please vote for the shows that either had overall the best storyline, or very exciting plot. This includes very intriguing backstories or other subplots as well. Please avoid basing your vote on plot that only goes for as little as one or two episodes.

-{A2}- [Best Visuals & Animation]

Vote for the show with the best visuals (artstyle, aesthetics) and/or animation quality.

B. Genre Fidelity

-{B0}- [Best Action-Adventure]

The Adventure genre is a work in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations. The Action genre is a class of creative works characterized by more emphasis on exciting action sequences than on character development or story-telling. You may vote for any anime that can be described by either the Action genre or the Adventure genre, or both.

-{B1}- [Best Fantasy]

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Fantasy is distinguished from Science Fiction and Horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific (or pseudo-scientific) and macabre themes.

-{B2}- [Best Science Fiction]

Science Fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities and phenomenon. Paranormal differs from supernatural in that it explores phenomenon that exist beyond our current understanding, research and technology (ergo they can't be disproven, nor proven, by science), while on the other hand supernatural goes directly against science.

-{B3}- [Best Horror]

Preferably fiction with macabre elements. Any other show that loosely fits the criteria, meaning it is dark in its own way with the ideas it puts forward, is also eligible. Please try to avoid shows that just have "monster" elements in them, but are otherwise very light hearted.

-{B4}- [Best Mystery]

Preferably Crime Fiction. Any other show that loosely fits the criteria, meaning it is some kind of detective fiction is also eligible.

-{B5}- [Best Drama]

A Drama is a genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, just to name few, put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, and even society.

-{B6}- [Best Romance]

Love stories, or affairs of the character that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters (usually a leading man and lady), and the journey that their love takes through courtship (and/or marriage). Please avoid putting romance in the same boat with friendship, parental love, love between siblings, and so on. There is no romance there unless the story is about homosexuals, incest, paedophiles, etc.

-{B7}- [Best Comedy]

There are many types of comedy. Usually in anime you'll find Alternative, Physical, Prop, Surreal, Sitcoms, just to name a few. Feel free to vote for any show that made you laugh, but please make sure that the comic relief came in more than one episode and was not simply a side-story to the main plot. Just because you laughed once doesn't make the entire show a Comedy.

-{B8}- [Best Slice of Life]

Slice of life typically portrays mundane realism depicting everyday experiences. At the centre is usually a character, or group of character, who are at crucial moment in their lives.

-{B9}- [Best Sports]

Any show dealing with a sport. Please only focus on shows where the sport has an integral part in the plot and isn't just a side activity in one or more episodes.

C. Production

-{C1}- [Best TV Series]

Please pick the shows you've enjoyed the most and you consider had the best production values overall, that were constructed in a TV format: short 20min per episode (not counting virtually mandatory opening and ending) with break in the middle and varying production values, aimed at mass distribution over the course of weeks.

-{C2}- [Best OVA]

Please pick the shows you've enjoyed the most and you consider had the best production values overall, that were constructed in a OVA format: 40min or so per episode, distributed via disk to be viewed at home in high definition; iteration occurring potentially over months with the explanation of various elements sometimes relegated to other formats (TV series, game, manga, novel, etc).

-{C3}- [Best Movie]

Please pick the shows you've enjoyed the most and you consider had the best production values overall, that were constructed in a movie format: over an hour or sometimes very high quality 40min episodes, designed for best viewing in theatres.

D. Distinguishing Features

-{D1}- [Best Female Lead]

Vote for your favourite female heroine. Bear in mind character development, integrity, internal conflict, and other elements that make a character play the role of a character as opposed to the role of a plot device. The criteria you use is left at your discretion.This is a character category please use the format "Character / Series" or "Character - Series" if the character or series contains / or -. If it contains both make sure the ones in the names don't have spaces.

-{D2}- [Best Male Lead]

Vote for your favourite hero. Bear in mind character development, integrity, internal conflict, and other elements that make a character play the role of a character as opposed to the role of a plot device. The criteria you use is left at your discretion.This is a character category please use the format "Character / Series" or "Character - Series" if the character or series contains / or -. If it contains both make sure the ones in the names don't have spaces.

-{D3}- [Best Antagonist]

The Antagonist (from Greek meaning: opponent, competitor, rival) is a character, group of characters, or an institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist (be it a character or a group of characters) must contend. While antagonist may refer to a group or institution please only vote for one character that symbolizes the ideals, in those cases.This is a character category please use the format "Character / Series" or "Character - Series" if the character or series contains / or -. If it contains both make sure the ones in the names don't have spaces.

-{D4}- [Best Side-Character]

A side character is a character usually used to give added dimension to a main character, by adding a relationship with this character, and other opportunities for character development. They may also be an independent character in their own right.This is a character category please use the format "Character / Series" or "Character - Series" if the character or series contains / or -. If it contains both make sure the ones in the names don't have spaces.

-{D5}- [Best World Setting]

Vote for the series with the most interesting, captivating and/or alluring world. All settings count, including the seemingly mundane, or relatively constraint and small settings, from a complete fantasy world to an ordinary high school.

-{D6}- [Best Credits Theme]

Vote for your favourite opening and/or ending song.Please use the format "Series OP#" or "Series ED#" where # is the number based on airing order (e.g. OP1, ED2, etc).

-{D7}- [Best Soundtrack]

Vote for the show with best soundtrack. Typically this refers to background music, action music or ambient music, etc. OP/ED are not considered because they have their own category. Voice Acting is also not part of the soundtrack.

Fate/Zero was good, but there's not really that much character development, what you see if what you continue to see thought the series with a few minor pluses and minuses on the relationship side. I found a lot of the character decisions to be incomprehensible; though still enjoyable to watch nontheless. Saki gets the no.1 spot for dealing with character development as a group (better then it's predecessor) and having interesting and spread out development. Horizon gets a spot for having extremely think plot that requires thinking and isn't just junk food for the visuals.

On the visuals side...

I'm a sucker for aesthetics. BRS had the a fresh aesthetic. Tsuritama has a interesting art style. Horizon had lots of action scenes.

Nobuna was the only choice for action; might count Horizon because of it's tight relationships with "the politics of battles" and the whole "traveling continent theme" but that would be breaking the 2 genre rule, and I feel sci-fi and romance where the main genres for it.

When it comes to Fantasy, F/z is good on it's paranormal organizations and has a good interpretation on magic. Sci-fi wise, Horizon (duh!) and the Pirates were pretty good, might have placed pirates first but it's too much of a slice of life for a sci fi.

Horror, Comedy, and Slice of life didn't leave for much of a choice. Another was an okey horror. For a comedy Natsu de Matteru was decent... probably. (TBH good comedies—I can hope to understand—were severely lacking this year.) Slice of life had a good run I guess, though don't really care that much for the genre.

Mystery. I'm kind of picky but I'd say Hyouka had enjoyable presentation; though for the most part the mysteries were pretty lack luster; K gets a spot for having a nice series wide mystery (the whole "I look like a gay series but I'm not" element kind of distracts from it though). Drama wise, SAO and Muv Luv had it (BRS had decent amounts too).

For sport anime, Saki and Vanguard are good ones. Saki takes lead because Vanguard is slow as balls.

For Romance, Horizon, because it had not one, not two, but four, maybe even more. The relationships were fun. And it also built on previous ones from the previous season. Chuunibyou was pretty good one too, for what's a classic school crush.

Nobuna and Ririchiyo were the only strong female leads this year. A lot of the cast of Saki could count but they act more as a group and are pretty lame on their own. Kiritsugu and Houtarou were the only interesting (non-stereotype or cliche) males this year. Kayaba was the only believable villain this year; all other villains appear to be just playing the role with little if any benefit then being crazy (kind of meh) — in particular those in F/z. Most side characters were pretty meh; Berserker was okey-ish, I give him points for being an interesting character even though he's a doodad 90% of the series; Neko was pretty enjoyable and added a lot to the series K (more like made it), so she gets first spot.

When it comes to world setting Horizon is an obvious winner, what with it's lore you need a week to just figure out and all, Saki is probably the most fun setting with all the stupidly overpowered schools, and SAO was pretty unique compared to everything else.

Didn't really like Joshiraku that much, but the ending is so catchy. Everything else this year sounded like either another re-hash of another song, average, or unbearable. When it comes to soundtracks Horizon has the best orchestra music in spades, clear winner for me d^_^b

Feel Free To Use My Post As A Template To Replace My Choices With Your Own

-{A1}- [Best Storyline & Plot]

UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron

Fate Zero

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

-{A2}- [Best Visuals & Animation]

Hyouka

Guilty Crown

Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

-{B0}- [Best Action-Adventure]

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

Fate Zero

Jormungand

-{B1}- [Best Fantasy]

Fate Zero

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi

-{B2}- [Best Science Fiction]

Eureka Seven Ao

Jinrui wa Suitai wa Shimashita

Zetman

-{B3}- [Best Horror]

Gyo

Wasurenagumo

-{B4}- [Best Mystery]

Hyouka

UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron

Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna

-{B5}- [Best Drama]

Kokoro Connect

Jormungand

-{B6}- [Best Romance]

Ano Natsu de Matteru

Chihayafuru

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

-{B7}- [Best Comedy]

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

Kore wa Zombie Desuka? Of the dead

-{B8}- [Best Slice of Life]

Hyouka

Sakamichi no Apollon

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi

-{B9}- [Best Sports]

Chihayafuru

-{C1}- [Best TV Series]

Fate Zero

Chihayafuru

Hyouka

-{C2}- [Best OVA]

Gyo

-{C3}- [Best Movie]

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron

Hotarubi no Mori e

-{D1}- [Best Female Lead]

Watashi / Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita

Julia Crichton / Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

Chihaya Ayase / Chihayafuru

-{D2}- [Best Male Lead]

Taichi Mashima / Chihayafuru

Ao Fukai / Eureka Seven Ao

Hotaro Oreki / Hyouka

-{D3}- [Best Antagonist]

Kotomine Kirei / Fate Zero

Deishu Kaiki / Nisemonogatari

-{D4}- [Best Side-Character]

Satoshi Fukube / Hyouka

Kanna Tanigawa / Ano Natsu de Matteru

Asako Natsume / Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

-{D5}- [Best World Setting]

Sakamichi no Apollon

Eureka Seven Ao

Aquarion Evol

-{D6}- [Best Credits Theme]

Sakamichi no Apollon OP1

Aquarion Evol ED1

Sankarea ED1

-{D7}- [Best Soundtrack]

Eureka Seven Ao

Guilty Crown

Sakamichi no Apollon

-{D8}- [Best Ongoing Series]

Psycho-Pass

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

Shin Sekai Yori

Spoiler for thoughts:

Most of those choices are pretty self-explanatory. With Sacred Star of Milos, I’m somewhat aware that there are quite a few bad reviews (which honestly surprised me after I had watched the film). I just want to say that I still haven’t actually gotten round to watching Brotherhood yet (I’m rather particular about watching Brotherhood in dub as I did the original series so I’ll just buy the DVDs when I get my next paycheck XP). I took the opportunity to see this film as a way to get back into the story so it didn’t end up feeling as “fillerish” for me as it probably did with others. Instead it ended up being quite a wonderful reminder of everything I loved about the first series and probably the best reintroduction to the series that I could’ve hoped for.

The year seemed to be lacking good pure drama that I could vote for but I guess that’s more due to my own personal rule about not voting for drama already covered by other genres. I could have probably still gotten away with putting Fate Zero or even Sukitte Ii No Yo, in there but they were kind of iffy and I leaned more towards a pure list.

In contrast there were quite a few good comedies that I didn't get to vote for. Joshiraku, Binbougami-ga and Nisemonogatari were all pretty damn funny too.

As for the new horror category, I could have maybe put in Mirai Nikki or Another in there but with the latter deteriorating into a perversely entertaining blood sport and the former being one from the get go, I didn’t really want to...

Too bad the Sport/Games/Hobbies category was changed into just Sports this year because otherwise I could have given Tsuritama and Tari Tari a nod. Oh well (Wait, is a fishing a sport? Well I suppose it doesn’t matter since it wasn’t in Tsuritama. XP)

The hardest one for me was probably the new Settings category. Accel World, Hyouka, Sword Art Online, Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, Fam of the Silver Wing, From Up on Poppy Hill, Sacred Star of Milos, Inga-ron and to a lesser degree Tsuritama, Moretsu Pirates and Rinne no Lagrange were all noteworthy as well. So why the hell did I put in Aquarion Evol of all things? Honestly I’m not too sure of that myself...

I’ll get round to watching more OVAs that have been released this year but I doubt my top choice will change.

The year was kind of lacking in good proper antagonists, though I guess that doesn’t really matter when that area is almost completely mastered by Urobuchi Gen anyway. I already have a pretty good idea who I’ll be voting for next year too. I was sorely tempted to put in a certain Sacred Star of Milos villain but realised that was technically kind of spoilerish...

Speaking of Sacred Star of Milos, I also had a bit of difficulty in deciding whether Julia Critchon counted as a side character or a lead and in the end I settled for lead. The Side Character category is a real bitch to shows without conventional character roles. Honourable mentions for Best Female Lead include Nanami from Kamisama Kiss, Shizuku from Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun and Mine Fujiko from Lupin the Third. Honourable mentions for Best Side Character include Kanata from AKB0048, Jin from Aquarion Evol , Daisuke from Lupin the-...Hmm...I’m noticing a trend emerging...YO, I PUT SOME HATRED IN YOUR HATE SO YOU HATERS WILL BE HATIN’ (The better honourable mentions include Assistant and Y from Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita and Junichi from Sakamichi no Apollon.)

Another ridiculously hard category was the Credits Theme one. I was really tempted to put in the Shining Hearts ED. If you've seen it, you'll understand why. (And you have to actually see it too. It's not just the song, dude...They’re dancing and signing...They’re dancing and singing and baking...)

In the Soundtrack category, I had to balance out my desire to vote for the best and my desires to vote for those I think deserve recognition. It was originally meant to be Eureka Seven AO, then Fate Zero, then Guilty Crown but if I had done that then Sakamichi no Apollon wouldn't get a nod and I just think it would be a crying shame if it didn’t go through. Yuki Kaijura already has enough recognition as it is, anyway.

One of the best years if not the bestest, though not as good as last year. K is easily the best show of the year for me, and there's many honorable mentions such as The Ambition of Oda Nobuna. I hope next year will look promising.

__________________

I will protect you from the darkness and I change my destiny.MyAnimeList

Hmm, although I did vote for something for visuals, I'm not too happy about it. I guess I could vote Guilty Crown, but nah. I just have been missing too many series, sadly.

__________________

The greatest lie is to convince people that the world is a dangerous place and a zero sum game where you are never safe. Distrust others and fight them for scraps, while the real enemy that spreads this lie takes the whole pie.Avatar and Sig courtesy of TheEroKing
Guild Wars 2 SN: ArchonWing.9480 (Stormbluff Isle)MyAnimeList || Reviews

2012 is really a good year for anime for me. Lots of great shows that I never thought that I would enjoy (Fate Zero, Hyouka). The Josei and the shoujo ones (Chihayafuru, Natsume Yuujinchou Shi, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Kamisama Hajimemashita) really shined this year!

*For those who voted for Psycho pass and Girls und panzer, I don't think they're eligible...

EDIT: Removed TnK from the Slice of life category, added a vote for the Best on going series

So how is that fair this year towards series that have their 1st half or 1st cour aired last year like Guilty Crown, Fate/Zero etc.

The following falls under not eligible:

"TV series who have a continuation announced for next year and will start airing within 1 season (cour) of the last series' finishing date"

Fate/Zero is actually one of the reasons this rule exists now. We don't want a series that is relatively uninterrupted (Only a single cour break), to be counted as separate series. Under the current rules, Fate/Zero would only be eligible once its second cour ended.

If a series is 2 cours, like say the current Psycho-Pass, it just applies to whenever it ended. Psycho-Pass will be ending in 2013, so it will be eligible in 2013. Guilty Crown started in 2011, but it ended in 2012, so it is eligible this year.

Now if a series is 400+ episodes long like say One Piece, then if we counted it every year it could feasibly win every year. That's not what we want with these awards. When it finishes, it will be evaluated. For the record, Bleach which has been airing a hella long time finally concluded this year (One of our infamously long shonen series) and as you can see, it is eligible this year.

If we take that rule into account starting this year, then how eligble are series that have a sequel instantly greenlit after the last episode, without actually knowing if that sequel will start airing within 1 cour.
An example would be K or Hayate no Gotoku! Can't Take My Eyes Off You

later edit: or series that have their 2nd season announced, but it takes more than 3 months after the last episode of the first season to air? Like Haiyore! Nyaruko-san or chihayafuru (mentioned in Qilin's reply below)

Looks like I didn't watch as many shows as I did last year, but I'm quite confident that I got most of the good ones in my radar. In terms of writing, I find that Hyouka and Fate/Zero stand out the most. The new rule kept me from nominating Hyouka for more than two categories, so I had to choose wisely where to place it.

EDIT:

I do wonder if Chihayafuru should count if another season is set to come out soon.

__________________

"There’s an up higher than up, but at the very top, down is all there is."